前所未有的漢語熱：中文成“英國高考”第三大外語科目

 

在很多人印象中，中文曾被視為最難學的語言之一。但從諸多國家近年逐漸掀起的“漢語熱”來看，學習漢語和漢學儼然成為了新趨勢。素有“英國高考”之稱的A-level考試于本月16日發榜，據英國考試委員會最新公布的數據，今年報考漢語的英國學生人數首次超過德語，成為“英國高考”第三大外語科目。

The Chinese language might be widely-known as being hard to learn, but tones and logograms are not stopping students from honing their tongues in Mandarin. More British students opted to sit Chinese tests than German in this year's A-level examinations, showing a great curiosity in the ancient Asian language amid a growing disinterest in foreign languages.

This is the first time that Mandarin Chinese has overtaken German at A-levels, a British public exam taken by high school students, making it the third most popular language in the UK.

據英國廣播公司中文網報道，今年的A-Level考試，有3334名考生選擇漢語為考試科目，和去年相比增長8.6%。法語仍是最受歡迎的第一外語，排名第二的是西班牙語。但是與去年相比，選擇這兩門語言作為A-level考試科目的學生數量都呈下降趨勢，德語排在第五。

A total of 3,334 candidates chose Mandarin as their foreign language, up 8.6 percent from 2017, while around 3,058 sat A-level German, down 16.5 percent year-on-year.

French and Spanish still remain the most popular foreign languages, but the former slipped by eight percent to 8,713 this year, while the latter decreased by four percent to 8,255, according to The Telegraph.

The German language is followed by Russian and Polish.

A foreign student learns calligraphy from a Chinese middle school student in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

近年來，隨著中國的經濟發展，漢語比德語更受歡迎。年輕人也會思考到底什么語言在將來會更實用。

Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) said that due to the economic power of Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, students were encouraged to study German, but now China has emerged as the world’s fastest growing economy.

2017年一項針對一千多名未成年學生家長的調查顯示，在英國家長心目中，漢語是印歐語系之外最重要的語言。一半以上的家長認為，學習漢語不僅僅可以幫助學生了解東方文化，更有助于未來事業的發展。根據中國國家漢辦粗略估算，目前中國（含港澳臺）之外，全球學習使用漢語的人數已經超過1億，其中包括6000萬海外華人華僑，以及4000萬各國主流社會的學習和使用者。

Chinese language and culture have been accessible to students around the world thanks to the spread of Confucius Institutes.

According to the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), as of 2017, some 100 million people, excluding native speakers, use Chinese globally, while Chinese teaching centers have surpassed 70,000.

Candidates take part in a HSK test

中文也逐漸成為韓國人從小學習的語言。在韓國，以中文和英語進行雙語教學的私立幼兒園以及單以中文教學的私立幼兒園每年都在增加。很多私立小學也把中文列為學校的必修課。

South Korea has the largest population of Chinese language learners in the world with the number estimated at around 10.6 million. Last year alone, over 170,000 people signed up for Chinese language tests, like the HSK, a Chinese proficiency test.

2010年，聯合國新聞部宣布啟動聯合國語言日，旨在慶賀多種語言的使用和文化多樣性，并促進6種官方語言在聯合國的平等使用。其中，新聞部將中文日定在了農歷二十四節氣之“谷雨”，以紀念“中華文字始祖”倉頡創造漢文字。而在聯合國設立中文日之后，許多國家紛紛開始了學習中文的熱潮。

The United Nations (UN) in 2010 suggested a Chinese Language Day which falls on April 20 each year to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote the equal use of all official languages.